nobody shines the way you do » l.s.

part sixteen

Niall and Barbara's party was the place to be on New Year's night because it seemed half the city was there in attendance. The apartment was crawling with people and there was hardly any space to move or do anything. Nevertheless, everyone was having fun and enjoying themselves. Louis, on the other hand, kept losing his friends and would end up having a conversation with some random person he'd never met while nursing the same beer he'd had since the party started. He was kind of in an off mood and he wasn't going to admit to anyone it was because a certain curly-haired boy was still not there.

Because that wasn't the reason.

It totally wasn't.

When Louis managed to find his way back to the living room from the kitchen, he noticed Zayn greeting a girl with lavender hair by the door. Louis smirked as he walked over and hip-checked Zayn, who looked over at him and grinned.

"Louis," he said.

"Zayn," Louis replied, smiling at the girl, who was very pretty and looking rather shy. "Care to introduce me to your friend, finally?"

Zayn laughed, shaking his head and muttering asshole under his breath in an affectionate way. "Louis, this is Perrie, my friend. Perrie, this is Louis. He's my roommate."

"Nice to meet you," Louis said, grinning and extending his hand for her to shake.

Perrie shook his hand, giving him a big smile. She had big, bright blue eyes and an eccentric way of dressing, which was probably why Zayn was so into her. Louis had always known Zayn to be very picky because he had a type. He didn't easily fall for people easily or make an effort if he didn't see a future with them because he really hated games. So, for him to be making such an effort with Perrie even though they were a bit complicated, Louis knew he must really like her. Love her, even, because Zayn looked at her with something Louis had never seen before.

He wondered if they were together together, but Louis didn't want to make it awkward by asking if they were making it official because Zayn did say friend.

Louis was really starting to hate that word because suddenly it had a more complex meaning than it used to.

"It's nice to meet you, too," Perrie replied to Louis, snapping him out of his thoughts. "I've been meaning to finally come to meet Zayn's friends because he talks about you guys quite a lot."

"I'm glad you did," Louis laughed. "We've been badgering him to bring you around as well. Hopefully, after tonight, you could join us more frequently."

"I'd love that," Perrie nodded.

Louis led the two of them back to the kitchen to get drinks and he got to know more about Perrie. She was a student at the New School and in her last year, studying graphic design. Currently, she was working at Forever 21 and loved it because she got half off of anything in the store, which basically amounted to barely anything, Louis, it's practically free. She was also really funny and witty with some of her comments, which Louis loved because that was how he could be, too.

The three of them were bonding so much that he didn't even realize that it was nearing 11 PM and Harry still wasn't there yet. Louis only remembered once he saw Liam and Sophia walk in, hand in hand. It irked him for a reason. One was that it was a New Year's Eve Party, you couldn't show up past midnight because then there was no point. Two was the fact that Harry had avoided Louis, but Louis was still so eager to see him. Where was Louis' pride and dignity? Completely lost, it seemed, when it came to frog boy.

He smiled, nonetheless, at Liam and Sophia, waving them over. He stood off to the side and watched as Zayn introduced Perrie to them.

"Did you guys come alone?" he asked Liam, once the initial greetings were done.